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Sex-specific differences in transcriptome profiles of brain and muscle tissue of the tropical gar

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Genomics, April 2017
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Title
Sex-specific differences in transcriptome profiles of brain and muscle tissue of the tropical gar
Published in
BMC Genomics, April 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12864-017-3652-3
Pubmed ID
Authors

Kayla M. Cribbin, Corey R. Quackenbush, Kyle Taylor, Lenin Arias-Rodriguez, Joanna L. Kelley

Abstract

The tropical gar (Atractosteus tropicus) is the southernmost species of the seven extant species of gar fishes in the world. In Mexico and Central America, the species is an important food source due to its nutritional quality and low price. Despite its regional importance and increasing concerns about overexploitation and habitat degradation, basic genetic information on the tropical gar is lacking. Determining genetic information on the tropical gar is important for the sustainable management of wild populations, implementation of best practices in aquaculture settings, evolutionary studies of ancient lineages, and an understanding of sex-specific gene expression. In this study, the transcriptome of the tropical gar was sequenced and assembled de novo using tissues from three males and three females using Illumina sequencing technology. Sex-specific and highly differentially expressed transcripts in brain and muscle tissues between adult males and females were subsequently identified. The transcriptome was assembled de novo resulting in 80,611 transcripts with a contig N50 of 3,355 base pairs and over 168 kilobases in total length. Male muscle, brain, and gonad as well as female muscle and brain were included in the assembly. The assembled transcriptome was annotated to identify the putative function of expressed transcripts using Trinotate and SwissProt, a database of well-annotated proteins. The brain and muscle datasets were then aligned to the assembled transcriptome to identify transcripts that were differentially expressed between males and females. The contrast between male and female brain identified 109 transcripts from 106 genes that were significantly differentially expressed. In the muscle comparison, 82 transcripts from 80 genes were identified with evidence for significant differential expression. Almost all genes identified as differentially expressed were sex-specific. The differentially expressed transcripts were enriched for genes involved in cellular functioning, signaling, immune response, and tissue-specific functions. This study identified differentially expressed transcripts between male and female gar in muscle and brain tissue. The majority of differentially expressed transcripts had sex-specific expression. Expanding on these findings to other developmental stages, populations, and species may lead to the identification of genetic factors contributing to the skewed sex ratio seen in the tropical gar and of sex-specific differences in expression in other species. Finally, the transcriptome assembly will open future research avenues on tropical gar development, cell function, environmental resistance, and evolution in the context of other early vertebrates.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 38 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 38 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 11 29%
Student > Bachelor 5 13%
Student > Ph. D. Student 5 13%
Student > Doctoral Student 4 11%
Researcher 2 5%
Other 2 5%
Unknown 9 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 16 42%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 16%
Engineering 2 5%
Social Sciences 2 5%
Arts and Humanities 1 3%
Other 1 3%
Unknown 10 26%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 April 2017.
All research outputs
#14,340,404
of 22,963,381 outputs
Outputs from BMC Genomics
#5,722
of 10,686 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#173,610
of 309,929 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Genomics
#99
of 186 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,963,381 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 10,686 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.7. This one is in the 42nd percentile – i.e., 42% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 309,929 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 41st percentile – i.e., 41% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 186 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 41st percentile – i.e., 41% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.